What we really need is to see the dog's name in someone else's handwriting. Maybe Helen A. can help with that. I know she has a number of photocopies of Olga's letters and diary entries.

That's a really good idea. I thought it could be interesting to know how Russian interpretated the spelling.I tried to find out something about that "hero" of Russian legends from whom the dog (and Malama's horse first of all) took the name, but no way so far.

Sunny, I may have told you of that site, but I had not seen that post!

I used my little Russian knowledge (even if i studied at the college my russian is not good at all) to browse in the site & other blogs, there are some interesting pages i can post you as soon as I can ^^

I know the problem of the correct spelling of the name has already been long discussed, but i've noted that russian sites spell it ORTINO, with a N not a P.I don't want to rise the question again, just stating it out because it could be interesting to know.Take a look here, if you understand Russian: http://www.liveinternet.ru/users/tatasoz/post144624543/ (Thanks BlessOTMA to have segnalized me the site!)Near the end you can read:

True, but note that the text above the photograph has this parenthetical comment:(в другой транскрипции Ортипо)"In another transcription Ortipo"

I realize that this has been discussed exhaustively here and on the Imperial pets thread, but, having read so many letters from captivity, I have to vote in favor of "Ortipo" as the dog's name.

1) In the Empress' letter to A. A. Vyrubova of December 8, 1917, she writes "Ortipo". And A. A. Vyrubova read it as such, and reproduced it as "Ortipo" in both the original Russian and in the English translation of that letter in both editions of her published memoirs.

2) In her letter of January 6, 1917 to Lili Dehn, Grand Duchess Olga Nicholaevna definitely wrote "Ortipo", with a "p".

3) Grand Duchess Tatiana Nicholaevna herself wrote "Ortipo" in her letter of January 11, 1918, to Catherine Zborovskaya.

She wrote:"...Please convey our very warmest regards to everyone. – Ortipo is well, but is turning into such a lazy-bones. She spends the whole day lying near the stove or else on the divans..."

[It's a photocopy of a photocopy of a photograph, so enlarge it for reading.]

Note that when writiing "Ortipo" [see No. 1 on the photocopy], Grand Duchess Tatiana lifted her pen after the "и" (i) in order to start the curving top loop at the beginning of the "п" (p).

Compare that with the "п" in the word "пожалуйста" two lines above (No. 2 on the photocopy), and with the "п" in "печи" three lines below.

By the way, Grand Duchess Tatiana often drew the concluding loop of a final "o" as a straight line, as she did here in the word "Ortipo".

From another letter written by Grand Duchess Tatiana on the same day (this time to M. S. Khitrovo):"My Darling Rita,Thank you so much for the sweet letter and postcard. I was very glad to hear from you at last. Luba [L. S. Khitrovo] occasionally writes to Anastasia..."

PS: I forgot to add that Catherine Zborovskaya, the recipient of Grand Duchess Tatiana's letter, and her brother, V. E. Zborovsky, an officer in H. I. M. Own Convoy, both read the dog's name as "Ortipo" in that letter, and they reproduced it as such in the history of the Convoy published in Russian in San Francisco, CA, in 1961.

I know the problem of the correct spelling of the name has already been long discussed, but i've noted that russian sites spell it ORTINO, with a N not a P.I don't want to rise the question again, just stating it out because it could be interesting to know.Take a look here, if you understand Russian: http://www.liveinternet.ru/users/tatasoz/post144624543/ (Thanks BlessOTMA to have segnalized me the site!)Near the end you can read:

True, but note that the text above the photograph has this parenthetical comment:(в другой транскрипции Ортипо)"In another transcription Ortipo"

I realize that this has been discussed exhaustively here and on the Imperial pets thread, but, having read so many letters from captivity, I have to vote in favor of "Ortipo" as the dog's name.

1) In the Empress' letter to A. A. Vyrubova of December 8, 1917, she writes "Ortipo". And A. A. Vyrubova read it as such, and reproduced it as "Ortipo" in both the original Russian and in the English translation of that letter in both editions of her published memoirs.

2) In her letter of January 6, 1917 to Lili Dehn, Grand Duchess Olga Nicholaevna definitely wrote "Ortipo", with a "p".

3) Grand Duchess Tatiana Nicholaevna herself wrote "Ortipo" in her letter of January 11, 1918, to Catherine Zborovskaya.

She wrote:"...Please convey our very warmest regards to everyone. – Ortipo is well, but is turning into such a lazy-bones. She spends the whole day lying near the stove or else on the divans..."

[It's a photocopy of a photocopy of a photograph, so enlarge it for reading.]

Note that when writiing "Ortipo" [see No. 1 on the photocopy], Grand Duchess Tatiana lifted her pen after the "и" (i) in order to start the curving top loop at the beginning of the "п" (p).

Compare that with the "п" in the word "пожалуйста" two lines above (No. 2 on the photocopy), and with the "п" in "печи" three lines below.

By the way, Grand Duchess Tatiana often drew the concluding loop of a final "o" as a straight line, as she did here in the word "Ortipo".

From another letter written by Grand Duchess Tatiana on the same day (this time to M. S. Khitrovo):"My Darling Rita,Thank you so much for the sweet letter and postcard. I was very glad to hear from you at last. Luba [L. S. Khitrovo] occasionally writes to Anastasia..."

Perhaps someone will come up with a clearer copy of "Sobstvenniy Ego Imperatorskago Velichestva Konvoy", where it is found as an illustration: Document No. 10.It was compiled by Col. N. V. Galushkin, of the Convoy, and was published in San Francisco in 1961.Only 500 copies were printed.All we have is a photocopy.

I can't recall where I found this link. Perhaps it already appeared somewhere else here on the Alexander Palace Forum, but this is a much clearer example of Grand Duchess Tatiana Nicholaevna's handwriting (from a letter to her father in 1915), where she definitely writes the name as "Ortipo".

It's quite evident in this sample how her "i" is written from bottom moving up, while the "p" is definitely arced from above moving down.

I can't recall where I found this link. Perhaps it already appeared somewhere else here on the Alexander Palace Forum, but this is a much clearer example of Grand Duchess Tatiana Nicholaevna's handwriting (from a letter to her father in 1915), where she definitely writes the name as "Ortipo".